The Hindu : Cong. ready for poll alliances

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 09, 2003

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National

Cong. ready for poll alliances

By Javed M Ansari

Shimla July 8. From the ambiguity at Pachmarhi, the Congress has come a long way on the issue of coalitions and poll alliances. As the party wraps up deliberations at its three-day Manthan Shivir (brainstorming session) here, a broad sense of unanimity has emerged in its ranks in favour of coalitions.

A political resolution adopted today said the party was prepared to enter into both pre and post-poll electoral alliances with like-minded secular parties. Though the idea of coalitions was approved, the discussion on the issue was animated with some differences of opinion on whether the alliance should be at the national or State-level.

Five years ago, at Pachmarhi, the party had said it would consider entering into alliances "only when absolutely necessary". Five summers and many electoral reverses later, it appears willing to accept the inevitability of forging electoral alliances. The realisation heightened by the recognition that the party counts for little in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal which account for over 200 Lok Sabha seats. "If we are to make a serious bid for power at the Centre, the key is forging alliances and making our presence felt in these seats," said a party strategist.

Though most of the leaders appeared to have accepted the ground realities, there were stray voices of resistance. The issue is reported to have come up for discussion during the debate on political challenges as well as on the party's poll preparedness. While a majority of the participants favoured an alliance even if it meant making sacrifices, those opposed to it such as the Uttar Pradesh MLA, Louise Khurshid, argued that it would weaken the party's base in the State and prompt some of its supporters to shift their allegiance. She felt that if the party had to enter into an alliance it should only be at the last moment.

There was also a divergence of views on whether the alliances should be State-specific or at the national level. While the Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled States favoured the idea of State-level alliances, the Maharashtra unit felt that if it had to take place with the NCP, it should be a pre-poll alliance for both the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections.

Talking to The Hindu, the former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, said: "If the NCP is prepared to give up its opposition to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, there is no reason why the two parties cannot have a pre-poll alliance."

In fact, that was the underlying theme of the presentations of a majority of the delegates on the issue. The party's unstated caveat was that it was prepared for coalitions as long as the alliance was led by the Congress under Ms. Gandhi.

In the discussions on political challenges, it was felt that the Congress must be more forthcoming on the issue of secularism and should take the BJP head on. Late in the evening, the party wrapped up its discussion on the five subjects, the summary of which was approved at the plenary session of the Shimla conclave. During the concluding session on Wednesday, Ms. Gandhi will release the party's Shimla Sankalp (declaration).

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